


All the Family We Need

by estelraca



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Comfort, F/M, Multi, Polyamory, Relationship Negotiation, Resting during a brief break from the madness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-23
Updated: 2020-10-23
Packaged: 2021-03-08 23:21:36
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,024
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27164479
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/estelraca/pseuds/estelraca
Summary: Yeza realizes something while Veth is telling him about her adventures.  When he asks her to clarify, they end up discussing what their family should look like going forward.
Relationships: Yeza Brenatto/Nott | Veth Brenatto/Caleb Widogast
Comments: 7
Kudos: 52
Collections: Shipoween 2020 - The Halloween Ship Exchange!





	All the Family We Need

**Author's Note:**

  * For [HaplessDungeonMaster](https://archiveofourown.org/users/HaplessDungeonMaster/gifts).



> I hope you enjoy this piece! I adore the Mighty Nein with all their issues, and the Yeza/Nott/Caleb trio is something I could very easily see. I hope you enjoy this! Vague spoilers through episode 111.

_All the Family We Need_

“—and then Caleb hit it with a disintegrate spell, which looks incredible when you're underwater, and Vocodo just split apart.” Veth's eyes soften, her whole body language shifting as she talks about Caleb.

It doesn't strike home exactly how much her body language changes until later, when they're in bed together. Yeza had been too caught up in the excitement of the story, in the wonder of his wife's life and the visceral joy at having her back.

Then he had been too caught up in _Veth's_ joy at being back. They had enjoyed an evening as a family, but as soon as Luc had been in bed, Veth was ready for action of a different type. Yeza wonders blearily if it's going to be like this every time she comes home. Not that he's complaining! The intensity she brings to everything is one of the things he loves most about his wife.

Which is when he remembers her talking about Caleb, and the _different_ type of intensity there had been there. At first his stomach does a little drop, because _he_ certainly can't compete with a mage who can incinerate a being from the Astral Plane while underwater, but then he forces himself to be calm. To think about things rationally.

To actually ask his wife, because with Veth it's always best to just have a conversation if you want to make sure everyone's actually on the same page.

“Veth... honey...” Yeza nuzzles his wife's shoulder.

“You're going to have to give me at least ten more minutes. I'm still liquid from the last round.” Veth's words are a sleepy mumble against his shoulder.

Yeza draws in a breath, wondering exactly how much sleep his wife intends to get that night. Then he gives his head a shake, refusing to get sidetracked. “I was hoping... thinking... maybe we could talk for a minute?”

Veth's body tenses against him, her muscles—and when did she become so strong?—cording into tight knots. “That sounded like the serious kind of talk.”

“No! No, no, you don't need to worry.” Yeza leans up an elbow, turning so that he's face to face with his wife. He reaches out to brush sweat-slick hair away from her cheek. “I mean... it's not a _bad_ serious talk, I just... how do you feel about Caleb?”

Veth's expression freezes, and Yeza can see her trying to decide what to show him, whether to let him see the truth or whether to try to hide it.

He reaches out, not begrudging her that fear, that instinctive desire to hide. Maybe he would have before he spent those weeks in the dark—before she _rescued_ him from the dark and brought him to paradise. But he understands, now, why people sometimes fear letting their truth be known, even to those they love. “It's okay. I won't be mad, no matter what you tell me.”

“I haven't... done anything.” Veth swallows, her voice soft, not at all her usual booming energy that can fill a room to bursting in just a few syllables. “I don't think he even knows. And I _won't_ , I'll be faithful, this is my _home_ , and—”

“Oh, honey.” Yeza wraps his arms around his wife, pulling her forward, holding her tight. “It's all right. I don't mind.”

After a moment Veth's hands tentatively touch his back before holding on tight. “You... don't mind that I have a bit of a crush on one of my traveling companions? Or you don't mind that I haven't done anything? Or...”

“Let's back up to the beginning.” Yeza pulls back slowly, so that he can see Veth's face again. “You have a crush on one of your traveling companions. A serious crush?”

Veth tilts her head and one hand back and forth. “If I weren't married I would have tried to ride him like a stallion by now.”

That definitely invokes some mental images. Yeza blinks, trying to decide if he finds them disturbing or alluring or just... confusing. Really, a lot with Veth is confusing. “Do you think he would appreciate that?”

“I mean, I'm a beautiful woman.” Veth smiles, though her bravado falters after a moment of Yeza's careful, serious stare. “I don't know. He's... he doesn't like himself very much at all. I wish he did. He's amazing and he deserves to know it, even outside of being hotter than a Nicodranus summer day. But some people hurt him badly, and he doesn't think he's worthy of love, even from someone like me.”

“Hey, no talking like that.” Yeza cups Veth's cheek with his. “The woman I married is absolutely amazing, and anyone would be blessed to get even a small fraction of her affection.”

Veth smiles, and Yeza feels her relaxing against him again. “You're the best. And you... really don't mind?”

“I mean, we've talked before about who we would sleep with if given some weird magical opportunity.” Yeza laughs, stroking his thumb down Veth's cheek. “This is just... a little more close to home.”

“It doesn't have to be anything. Just a little crush.” Veth's cheeks darken. “Maybe... maybe a little bit of fantasizing. But I'm home. I have the best home in the world, with you and Luc, and I would... I would stay if you asked me. I would give up all of the Nein if you asked me.”

“And it would tear your heart apart to do so.” Yeza sits up completely, the blanket falling off him. He takes one of his wife's hands in each of his. “We're doing all right, Luc and I. Better than all right. I have more money now than I ever dreamed I'd see, and I have a wonderful place to live in a beautiful city, and my boy is being tutored by people who know stuff I didn't even dream of until the Cerberus Assembly came knocking on our door. I miss you when you're gone, but you're doing important things, and you're protecting people who you love and who... who brought you back to me. Who _saved_ me.”

Veth's lower lip trembles, just for a moment, before she presses them together, stopping the tears before they can start. Instead she lifts one of his hands to her mouth. “I love you, Yeza. You know that?”

“You never let me forget it.” He pulls in the hand she kissed, twisting it so that he can kiss the back of her hand in turn. “And I won't let you tear yourself up over this. It's silly.”

“I mean, _I'm_ not the one who interrupted a perfectly good night of marathon sex to bring up that his wife looks a little star-struck by one of her compatriots.” Veth leans in for what Yeza thinks will be a kiss, and instead bites him on the nose.

Yeza rubs at his nose, frowning. “I think it's important. I mean... Luc likes him.”

Veth blinks, then frowns. “Of course he does. Luc likes all the Nein. He thinks we're badass, because we are.”

“And... you're gone a lot. Which isn't an accusation!” Yeza raises his hands in a soothing gesture, knowing that it's going to be a sore spot no matter how much he reassures her. “And you clearly still have... needs on the road.”

Understanding dawns in Veth's eyes. “Are you asking me to proposition my Caleb?”

Yeza isn't entirely sure if Veth meant to say 'my friend', 'my teammate', simply 'Caleb', or really meant 'my Caleb', and decides it's not worth pursuing. “Would you want to? I mean, I'm not saying you _have_ to, if you want to do this whole monogamy thing we can, I know that's what we kind of expected when we made our marriage vows, but clearly things have changed and I like the Nein quite a bit. I like Caleb quite a bit. He's the reason you're back here with me.”

Veth rests her head against Yeza's shoulder. She swallows. “I kissed him. Once. Right before he changed me back to this form. Because I didn't know if I was going to die or if I was coming home here, and I... I wanted to end that part of my life—the Nott part—on a good note. I'd forgotten about it. Sorry.”

Yeza draws in a breath and uses it to puff his cheeks up before nodding. “It's okay. All of this is okay. We're going to figure out a way to keep you happy and whole, you understand? And if that means sharing you—well, I'm all right with that.”

“I never would have asked, you know.” Veth raises her head, looking him dead in the eye, all utter seriousness. “I _never_ would have asked.”

“That's why you're with me.” Cupping his wife's cheeks in his hands, Yeza leans in and kisses her fiercely. “So that you don't _need_ to ask. We figure each other out. We figure out what the other needs and we get it for them.”

Veth's smile starts small and grows to encompass her whole face, a familiar gleam entering her eyes as it does. Yeza isn't taken totally off guard when she flips him down onto the bed, but he still yelps. It seems appropriate.

Veth straddles him, her smile fading to something gentler as she leans down to kiss him firmly on the lips once more. “I love you, Yeza. I'll always be yours. But if you wouldn't mind...”

“I wouldn't—” Yeza's words turn into a low moan as Veth rocks against him. She's still not wearing underwear. He'd thought she put some on after their last round. “I wouldn't mind.”

Veth moves her head down by his ear. “And if I brought him home? If I wanted to share him?”

Yeza gasps again, his thoughts getting harder to hold onto as Veth continues to move. “Ah... we'll see when we get there?”

“Yes.” Veth straightens, her words a throaty purr. “Yes we will.”

None of this was quite what Yeza expected, but given that he was having a conversation with his wife, the unexpected is really all that could have happened.

And maybe he now has a wizard boyfriend.

As Veth expertly plays his body, Yeza decides he doesn't mind at all.

***

It's harder to bring matters up with Caleb than Nott— _Veth_ , she has to remind herself to think of herself as Veth still when she's with the Nein—had expected.

Granted, they're busy. They're dealing with some of the jackasses from Caleb's past, fools who thought that the best way to get something out of children was to break them. Veth would never consider herself the best parent in the world—she's been absent for too much of Luc's life for that—but she loves her child, and even _she_ knows that Ikython's ideas are dangerous and stupid.

Plus he hurt Caleb.

He _scarred_ Caleb, physically and mentally. That would be enough for Nott to decide he needs to die, even without the rest of it.

But Caleb wants to play this safe, and smart, and see what information they can get on who _else_ needs to die before they take out Trent. Fair. Smart. Frustrating, but smart.

Veth almost asks him about matters when they're in the magic cat tower. It would have been a good time, their rooms isolated enough from the others to make it safe. But it hadn't seemed... appropriate, somehow. Caleb was showing his heart to them, his love for the Nein and the scars he bears both on obvious display, and to answer that with sex...

Nott would have, once upon a time. When she didn't think she would ever be Veth again, when that seemed a dream beyond her, she would have walked over to Caleb's door and knocked and kissed him and hoped it would go from there.

But now she's Veth again. Now she's a mother and a wife and an adventurer all squeezed into one halfling body, and Caleb... Caleb needs to be treated carefully. He's not as fragile as he once was—the Nein have seen to that—but it would still be too easy to hurt him.

She doesn't want to hurt him.

She wants to _help_ him. She wants to love him.

Which is why she's sitting in a room with her husband and son and staring at the ceiling thinking about how to get together with her adventuring partner.

“My life...” She breathes out the words. “Is so weird.”

“Uh huh.” Yeza's sleepy grunt comes from right beside her. “What's weird about it now?”

“My dead friend has crawled out of his grave and is walking around somewhere. I'm heading up to the freezing back of beyond with the woman who tortured my husband. And I'm thinking about...” She shifts, trying to make sure Luc is really still asleep and not listening. The last thing she wants to do is hurt Luc. Not any more than everything already has. It can't be good for a child to think he's lost both of his parents at least once before he turns five.

“You still haven't talked to him.”

“It hasn't been that long.” Nott— _Veth—_ hisses out the words.

“What about now?”

Veth freezes. “I don't know who he's rooming with and—” And that's an excuse, a reason to keep putting off changes. She's very good at that. “And I'll see you in a little bit, all right?”

Yeza is laughing silently as Veth slips out of bed and tip-toes past Luc's nest. Veth considers throwing something at him but she doesn't want to wake Luc if he really is asleep.

The walk to Caleb's door is quick and quiet, no one else in the hall. Veth presses her ear against the door to Caleb's room, but she doesn't hear anything other than the soft rustle of pages. Squaring her shoulders, she knocks on the door.

After a few seconds Caleb opens it. He blinks, clearly still drawing his attention away from his books. “Did you need something?”

Veth tries to peer around him. “Fjord and Caduceus...?”

“In a room of their own.” Caleb's mouth quirks into a slight smile.

“Yasha?”

“Sleepover with Jester and Beau.” Caleb looks more confused rather than less.

“Perfect.” Veth slips by the tall human and into the room. “That means we'll have a few minutes to talk.”

Caleb looks about as concerned by this as Veth thinks she must have looked when Yeza said the same thing.

“Nothing bad. Well, I don't think it's bad. I hope it's not bad.” Veth forces herself to stop talking.

Caleb doesn't look any less concerned. “Has something happened? With your family, maybe?”

Veth rubs a hand over her face. “Kind of. Sort of. Nothing bad, just... I may have told Yeza that I had a little teeny tiny bit of a crush. On you.”

The look of concern fades away, replaced first by disbelief and then by absolute blankness.

“Which is fine! Yeza thinks it's fine. Yeza actually...” Veth swallows. “Yeza thinks... if I want, if you want... Yeza would be fine. With anything. I'm actually pretty sure he also thinks you're hot.”

Caleb moves over to the chair he had clearly been studying in and sits down with a thump. “I have no idea what to say.”

“I mean... you could say 'sure, Nott, feel free to kiss me at any time'.” When Caleb's expression doesn't change, Nott— _Veth_ , she needs to get better about this—hastily adds, “Or you could say 'Veth, you're a married woman, don't be ridiculous'. And then we'll pretend I haven't been ridiculous and go on as though nothing happened.”

“Oh, Veth.” Caleb's expression thaws, and there's nothing angry in his eyes. That's the good part. The bad part is that there's that familiar self-hatred, that clear and obvious belief that no one will ever love him if they really know him. “You have such a beautiful family. Such a wonderful husband and the most beautiful child. You don't really want—”

Veth marches forward, climbing up into Caleb's lap so that her face is just a nose length away from his. “Do not tell me what I want. This isn't like with the drinking thing. This isn't something that's dangerous, something that I... that I'm not thinking about clearly. I want you and I _love_ you and you are not going to convince me otherwise, not about either.”

“You've seen.” Caleb's words are a soft whisper. “You've seen now what I come from, what kind of poison was injected into my veins.”

“Your veins belong to _us_ now.” Veth grabs each of Caleb's wrists, holding them tight, her small fingers bringing Caleb's wrists to her mouth. She kisses each. “You aren't what he tried to make you. If it takes me shooting him through both eyes for you to realize that, I'll make sure to do it. Your blood, your heart, your _soul_ , it belongs to the Nein now, and we say that it's _good_. As good as the rest of us are, anyway.”

Caleb's breath shudders in his throat, his eyes still uncertain.

Veth leans in to kiss him.

She hadn't meant to do it so quickly. She'd meant to get his permission. She'd meant to talk about this like rational adults. But there's nothing rational about the pain Caleb carries with him, nothing adult about the things Trent did to his students and the marks it has left on them.

For a long moment Caleb is just still, not breathing, not moving, and Veth finds herself placing one hand on his chest to ensure his heart is still beating. There have been too many close calls for all of them in the Nein, though Caleb has done better about keeping himself safe during their last few battles.

Then Caleb lifts his hands, and though they tremble they bury themselves in her hair, hold her head tight, and he kisses her back.

He kisses like someone who hasn't done it much—like the teenager he was when Trent stole his life away. He's too eager, too awkward, too hesitant and needy all at once. Veth places her small hands on his cheeks, holding him still, helping to direct the kiss, to make it better, stronger.

Her tongue slips inside his mouth and he pulls away with a gasp, his eyes wild. “Veth—”

“Sorry.” Veth freezes, keeping still, her hands both on his cheeks. She doesn't want to scare him. She doesn't want him to run. She just... wants him. Wants him whole and healed and _hers_ , just like Yeza is hers. “I can stop. I can leave.”

Caleb gives his head a shake, but his body is trembling beneath Veth, little shivering earthquakes of emotion. Tears start to gather at the bottom of his eyelids. “I can't—I can't ruin your marriage. I can't risk—”

Veth places her hand across his mouth, stopping him from talking. “Not another word like that. I'm your friend, _Caleb Widogast_.” It feels right, that name he chose on her tongue, and she knows that while she will always be both Veth and Nott, Caleb needs to be comfortable enough knowing Caleb is _true_ before they can start calling him Bren again. “I'll always be your friend. I'm going to be beside you when we kill Trent Iikithon, I swear it. I'll be with you when we take out any other Cerberus Assembly members we need to. I'll be _here_ , whether we're fucking or not, and you aren't a danger to my family, whether we're fucking or not. You understand?”

Caleb stares up at her, his eyes crinkling in concentration, his mouth still covered by her hand. Then he starts to laugh, a low, raspy chuckle. He reaches up and pulls her into a tight hug, his head resting against hers. “You are an impossible woman.”

“Not true. Quite possible, sitting right here.” Veth grins. “So... are we gonna...?”

“You really talked to Yeza about this?” Caleb studies her eyes still, looking for signs of a lie.

“I really spoke to Yeza about it. Swear on the Wild Mother or whatever gods we're pretty sure are really gods.” Veth draws a cross over her heart. “He's completely fine with this if we are.”

Caleb thinks for long, long moments. Since that's a very Caleb thing to do, Veth forces herself to stay still and quiet.

“All right.” The words are a whisper. “If you want... if he wants...”

“I do think he's going to want. We used to have the best discussions about what sex with other types of people would be like, about who would be more interested in what—” Veth forces herself to stop as a combination of amusement and panic begins to rise again. “But we'll see. We'll see where it goes.” She takes his hand in hers. “And we'll always be friends.”

“Always.” Caleb gives her fingers a squeeze. “That's something that will be true for all of the Nein forever, I hope.”

“Me, too.” Veth grins again. “Does that mean I can kiss you again?”

Caleb laughs and gives a small nod.

It's all the encouragement Veth needs to lean forward and start teaching again.

***

They don't do much more than kiss and cuddle.

Veth makes promises. She teases with a milder version of her electricity spell, promising much more to come. But Caleb is still tense, uncertain, wary of hurting her or making things awkward between them—or between her and Yeza—and Veth _can_ be patient if she needs to be. She can ease him into this, as she's eased him into other situations that ended up being good for both of them.

She's happy as she makes the walk back to her room. Not quite satisfied—she's going to have to figure out exactly how to accommodate human anatomy before she's satisfied—but happy. This could have been a terrible idea—Caleb was right about that—but the way they're doing it, the way everyone seems to be feeling... she thinks this is going to be good for them.

She sneaks past Luc's bed and back into bed with Yeza, using all of her adventuring skills to be as silent as possible.

She ruins it by cuddling Yeza to her chest immediately, her heart too full of love for him for her to resist. He's such a _good_ man. He's probably the best person she knows. Well... one of them. Caduceus is also a pretty good guy, despite his penchant for talking about dead people tea. And Jester is so _kind_ , despite her trickster spirit.

Nott and Caleb and Beau and Yasha and Fjord, they're not good people, but if they gather enough good people around themselves—

“How did it go?” Yeza's words are a quiet whisper in the dark.

“Really well.” Veth holds her husband a little closer. “Thank you.”

“No need to thank me.” Yeza kisses her nose. “Just love me, like you always have. That's all I need.”

She does. She had worried she wouldn't, once. Or that he wouldn't love her, that he _couldn't_ love her knowing what she'd become, what she'd done. And now—now she has _friends_ , and she has a _family_ , and she's going to have _Caleb_.

Her life is good right now.

“Mommy...” Luc's voice pipes out of the darkness, the not-quite-a-whisper that children use when they think they're being sneaky but their excitement has gotten the better of them. “Am I going to have two daddies now?”

Yeza sputters.

Veth laughs.

Kissing Yeza on the nose, she closes her eyes. “You'll have as many parents and aunts and uncles and cousins as you need to grow up big and strong, Luc. I'm going to make sure of it. Your father will explain the rest in the morning.”

Yeza starts to protest, but Veth just snuggles up against his chest, letting the world fade away into darkness.

Her life is good right now, and she's going to hold tight to that while it lasts, because she's seen how quickly it can all be snatched away.


End file.
